This Way Up
HISTORIC PEAKS AND VALLEYS IN THE JOURNEY
Historic peaks and valleys in the journey
July 1, 1867 Canada enters Confederation, and Sir John A. Macdonald, 52, becomes our first prime minister Hockey, beer and Tim Hortons coffee to follow.
1879 Three years after missing a train, Sandford Fleming, 52, proposes his idea for standard time zones, leading to worldwide standard time Though some still refuse to employ Fleming’s standard time, including India, China and the guy who said he’d be over to install your cable between nine and five today. 1880 Quebec’s Marie-Louise Meilleur, is born and lives to become Canada’s oldest person ever at 117 She was born when Macdonald was PM and died when Mulroney held office, and she had 12 kids, 85 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren, 57 great-great-grandchildren and four great-great-great-grandchildren.
1901 Before Céline sang for Titanic, Emma honoured the grandmother of Europe Emma Albani, 54, Canadian soprano and our nation’s first international singing star, performs solo at the funeral of England’s Queen Victoria. 1908 Robert Stanley Weir, 52, adapts the English version of “O Canada” to a less literal French translation, which we still use today The original French translation of “God keep our land, glorious and free ... from those dull Anglos and their watered-down maple syrup” didn’t really resonate outside of Quebec.
1913 Edward P. Sullivan, 59, co-directs Canada’s first feature movie Evangeline Which, subsequently, leads to Canada’s first feature movie trailer that gives away the whole plot and ruins the entire film for you.
1927 The Canadian government introduces the old-age pension,
maxing out at $20 a month Back then, however, “old age” was 39 and $20 bought you all the cream of wheat you could eat, plus a ticket to the latest talkie, so it was actually a pretty good deal.
1945 Winnipeg gave us James Bond and the technology to text naughty photos to each other? Cheeky! Winnipeg-born Sir William Stephenson, 48, whose heroic Second World War spy actions purportedly inspired Sir Ian Fleming’s 007, also invented a system for transmitting photos wirelessly.
1947 Meanwhile, in Nova Scotia ... Walter Callow, 51, a blind, quadriplegic and bedridden First World War veteran, develops the first ever accessibility bus for people in wheelchairs while also advocating for people with accessibility needs. 1958 Talk about playing a tough room Miner Maurice Ruddick, 46, is voted Canada’s Citizen of the Year after performing morale-boosting songs for his fellow miners while they’re trapped together down a 4,000-foot mine for nine days during the Springhill mining disaster.
1964 Marshall McLuhan, 53, publishes his seminal Understanding Media, coining the term “The medium is the message” Of course, in 2017 the medium is social media, and the message is “Everyone needs to see a photo of my pet/dinner/grandchild/sweaty gym body!”
1966 University of Guelph scientist Gary Johnston, 51, develops the popular Yukon Gold potato Rival potato growers claimed he had a chip on his shoulder, but he dismissed those small fries with a simple motto: “This spud ain’t no dud.”
1974 How many ivories does a guy have to tickle to get a Grammy around here? After more than 30 years of playing professionally, Montreal-born jazz legend Oscar Peterson, 50, wins his first Grammy Award.
1979-1980 From the Great Gordie to Grandpa Gordie Gordie Howe, recently a new grandfather, finishes the 1980 NHL season at age 52 as both the oldest player in league history and the only person to play in five different decades. 1992 & 2012 Space Ages Roberta Bondar, 47, becomes Canada’s first female astronaut and the first neurologist in space. Two decades later, Chris Hadfield, 53, becomes the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station.
2012 “Finally,” Plummer cried, “something for people to fixate on other than The Sound of Music!” Christopher Plummer, 82, becomes the oldest Oscar winner ever, winning Best Supporting Actor for a role in a movie that wasn’t The Sound of Music. He remains the oldest winner in any acting category in Oscar in history.
2013 An un-Beliebable feat Leonard Cohen, 78, caps an unprecedented career renaissance by topping Justin Bieber for Juno Artist of the Year honours, sending Beliebers into a pre-teen tizzy while becoming the oldest person to win the award. He breaks his own record in 2017, when he wins the award posthumously.
2013 Her work isn’t nearly as easy to sing as 2016 winner Bob Dylan’s, but it’s still a great honour Alice Munro, 82, becomes the first Canadian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
2017 Because who wouldn’t want to hear a harmonica so clear it sounds like someone is playing it right next to your ear? Right? Canuck rock legend Neil Young, 71, follows his Pono high-quality digital music player with an announcement of Xstream, a digital streaming service offering the highestquality digital audio.